PlainBillCongress, translated.Legislation. Context. Public interest.Committee on Veterans' Affairs. Hearings held. Hearings printed: S.Hrg. 115-299.
Congressional Research Service
Version 00 · Introduced in Senate · Jan 4, 2017
Biological Implant Tracking and Veteran Safety Act of 2017
This bill directs the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to:
adopt the unique device identification system developed for medical devices by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), or implement a comparable standard identification system, for identifying biological implants intended for use in VA medical facilities;
Showing the opening paragraphs of the official summary.
permit a vendor to use any of the accredited entities identified by the FDA as an issuing agency;
implement (within 180 days after enactment of this bill) a compatible system for tracking implants from human donor or animal source to implantation; and
implement compatible inventory controls so that patients who have received a biological implant in a VA medical facility subject to FDA recall can be appropriately notified.
The bill prescribes requirements for vendors from which the VA may procure biological implants of human and non-human origin.
The VA shall: (1) procure such implants under General Services Administration Federal Supply Schedules unless they are not available under such Schedules, (2) accommodate reasonable vendor requests to undertake specified outreach efforts to educate VA medical professionals about the use and efficacy of implants, and (3) procure biological implants that are unavailable under such Schedules using competitive procedures in accordance with the Federal Acquisition Regulation.
Certain biological implants may be temporarily procured by the VA without relabeling under the standard identification system.
People & committees
Sen. Cassidy, Bill [R-LA] · R–LA
Legislative record
A procedural vote is different from passage. Passage in one chamber does not establish enactment. Explore the glossary.
Committee on Veterans' Affairs. Hearings held. Hearings printed: S.Hrg. 115-299.
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs.
Introduced in Senate
Primary sources
Text links open the official source. We currently store references to these documents.
Source last updated: Dec 5, 2025. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
AI Conversation Starters
Choose a perspective, copy a prompt, and paste it into your preferred AI. Each prompt includes the bill version and available official source links, and asks for counterarguments as well as supporting evidence.
Analyze S.23 as objectively as possible. Explain its main provisions, who would be affected, possible benefits and harms, implementation, exceptions, and uncertainties. Present the strongest arguments for and against it, and identify evidence needed to assess its public impact.
Examine S.23 through a progressive lens, focusing on fairness, access, economic inequality, and effects on vulnerable communities. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and distinguish stated goals from demonstrated outcomes.
Examine S.23 through a conservative lens, focusing on fiscal responsibility, institutional stability, federalism, and the scope of government. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and any provisions that challenge this perspective.
Examine S.23 through a civil-liberties and limited-government lens. Consider individual rights, privacy, voluntary choice, accountability, and government power. Explain tradeoffs, possible safeguards, and the strongest counterarguments without assuming the proposal is beneficial or harmful.